FAYETTEVILLE — The Washington County Public Defender’s Office could get a technological improvement in 2014 by converting the management of attorney case files from a rotary-card system into a digitized service.
Kao Lee, deputy public defender, said staff use rotary cards as the quickest method to get basic information about a particular case. The cards, which sit at the reception desk, identify a client’s case number, criminal charges, court dates and the assigned attorney, according to a memo from the public defender to justices of the peace.
Public defenders must find physical files to get more detailed information, such as a client histories, Lee said. Determining the caseload for a particular attorney also is difficult, she said.
“There’s no quick way to pull up a (case) status,” Lee said. “There’s no quick way to check conflicts to see if we represent both the defendant and alleged victim in the case.”
At A Glance
The Washington County Finance and Budget Committee approved the following budgets Monday night. The full Quorum Court will adopt the county’s budget later this year.
Departme-nt - 2014 - 2013
Circuit Court, Division I - $80,841 - $81,263
Circuit Court, Division II - $45,599 - $46,195
Circuit Court, Division III - $870,984 - $871,906
Circuit Court, Division IV - $157,260 - $267,389
Circuit Court, Division V - $43,075 - $43,075
Circuit Court, Division VI - $37,899 - $37,899
Circuit Court, Division VII - $50,554 - $50,034
Prosecuting Attorney - $973,996 - $982,604
Public Defender - $411,428 - $394,340
Source: Washington County
Denny Hyslip, public defender, said his office would like to purchase computer software to manage an expected 4,000 cases in 2014 costing $25,000 in taxpayer dollars, according to an Oct. 3 memo. Hyslip requested a $411,428 budget for 2014, or a 4 percent increase from 2013’s $394,340 budget.
The Washington County Quorum Court’s Finance and Budget Committee approved Hyslip’s budget, including the service from Utah-based Justice Works, Monday night. Circuit judges and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office also got the OK for 2014 funding from the committee.
Statistics and caseloads are manually calculated by staff members, Hyslip wrote. The digitized system allows multiple people to access a case file and also allows access through a smartphone and tablet.
Justice Works is charging Washington County $14,000 annually plus an $11,000 start-up cost.
Lee said the service would begin tracking existing and future case files but not closed cases. As a result, a complete transition to a digitized system will take some time, she said.
Justice of the Peace Rick Cochran supported the purchase saying the cost is a little more than $1,000 per month after the first year.
“It sounds like based off a Rolodex, you guys are working long hard hours. Maybe you’ll get home before dark,” said Justice of the Peace Rick Cochran.
The Quorum Court will vote on a final budget for all county officials and department later this year. The Finance and Budget Committee meets at 5:30 p.m. today at the County Courthouse to review the 2014 animal shelter budget, treasurer’s budget, Quorum Court budget and others.